Full title: corporate America just posted record profits this week. The stock market is at all time highs. If your paycheck didn’t do the exact same thing, take a wild guess why. Their record margins are literally just your unpaid wages
“Sorry, we just don’t have any budget for raises this year” - said literally every year since 2020
Since 2008 I’d be guessing, honestly.
…or the dotcom boom…
Or like the 80’s…
Funny, they don’t say that during earnings calls.
And dipshit boomers watching Fox News think this translates to more jobs, cheaper prices and higher wages, then will scream at you when you show them all the evidence to the contrary.
The amount of MAGA dipshits I’ve seen online swear that groceries have never been cheaper, or that the gas prices that dwarf anything seen under Biden are “only slightly high” is absurd. These people cannot be respected as equal human beings.
How do we deal with this level of cognitive dissonance?
I see it as less tangible every day that it can be dealt with peacefully, tbth
Camps
This is a bad thing. Stock buybacks are driving this round of stock market excess. Basically the wealthy are no longer betting on the future by investing money to grow business. Instead they are pumping up their stocks value so they can check out.
If you clock in in order to live, your new job is to cost your company as much money as possible.
poop. at. work. every day.
This. I get an extra fifteen minute break every day.
I kid you not, the price of dumplings at the supermarket where I live went from $12 last year to $16 this year.
Four dollars! That’s a 33% increase in the price of dumplings! What the hell happened that they suddenly need 33% more money per bag?
Or take Dollar Tree turning into the $1.25 Tree—and sometimes even more! Some balloons cost five dollars at Dollar Tree. FIVE DOLLARS!
At this point, some of these companies are just making shit up.
Well you see, as the price of energy goes up, the price of ingredients must go up. And so the price of processed food must go up, and then transport must go up to match. To counterbalance this, the price of rent must go up, and therefore the price of mobile data must go up. All of this accumulates into soaring prices of stocks, which proves that capitalism is the greatest.
It really is this simple! But wages can not go up, because that would cause an inflationary death spiral.
I sense sarcasm.
But seriously, inflation went up like 8%. Not 33%!
Then again inflation is just when they print more money.
The people who told you inflation is only 8% are lying through their teeth. I dont have access to enough data to back that claim with evidence, but anecdotally I track my income and spending to the cent and I can tell you that at least for the set of goods I consistently buy every year inflation is much higher than 8%. My 2025 cost me 15% more than my 2024 did, even after excluding all of the 2025 spends that could be considered lifestyle upgrades to my 2024 financials. I dont know how that compares to my 2026 yet for sure, but its absolutely more than 8% inflation
So I don’t like dealing with “trust me bro” arguments but I think you’re confusing what inflation actually is.
Current U.S. Inflation Rates: 2000-2026 https://share.google/KYoH4YRuDcDl8tJje
But here’s an official link to what the inflation rate is and was.
The reason you’re feeling like things are significantly more expensive despite the relatively small inflation rate is that inflation works somewhat like compound interest.
For example, if a product cost $100 in 2025 and inflation was 5%, the price would rise to $105. If inflation is then 2.3% in 2026, that 2.3% increase is applied to the $105 not the original $100. The new price would be about $107.42.
That’s why a lower inflation rate doesn’t mean prices are going back down. It simply means they’re increasing at a slower rate.
Prices generally don’t go down just because inflation falls. They go up more slowly. The notable exceptions are things like gasoline and hand grenades.
The inflation numbers you linked are aggregated from DoL releases, which is an agency headed by a member of the executive. You may as well have cited economic data from the silmarillion for all the credibility it added to your argument, from my point of view.
Your distrust of the official source is irrelevant. Completely. That’s the information literally every single financial institution is using regardless of it being real or not.
https://share.google/7t3RegNapCQ2Awhkr - us congress
https://share.google/F2BIAgdWq9SC9IQwm - usfacts
https://share.google/YFvXxBKn6r8Er14XU - don’t remember.
It’s 3.4%. across the board. Believe it or not it’s a fact.
They don’t necessarily need to print more money for inflation to happen. Cost of living can go up for many reasons. Inflation is basically devaluation of savings.
It’s not just energy prices, it’s also climate change causing shortages, and tariffs levied on imports by the big orange.
Dollar tree isn’t feasible anymore, they have to raise prices, or they’ll go under like dollar general
Work keeps talking about how we need to use AI to be more productive. I quietly talk to my coworkers about how if we produce more but get paid the same, that’s a bad deal for us.
I’m waiting for when I inevitably say that to one of the soulless husks in management and get fired. But I want to make them squirm.
The stock market is almost always at all time highs, so what meaning does it have…
It has temporary dips off its highs but then goes back, every time.
It’s socialism or barbarism.
